Nigeria: ASTI–ARCN Country Factsheet

Lack of funding diversity

By virtue of size, Nigeria continues to lead Africa south of the Sahara in terms of agricultural research capacity and investment; nevertheless, spending levels declined in recent years (in inflation-adjusted terms). The country’s investment in agricultural research as a share of AgGDP fell from an already low 0.39 percent in 2008 to 0.22 percent in 2014. The country’s agricultural research funding is mainly provided by the government, with donors and other sources constituting a very small share of the total amount (only 1.2 percent per year on average during 2009–2014).

Human capacity constraints

After a period of steady growth, agricultural researcher numbers in the government sector stagnated during 2011–2014. As of 2014, close to two-thirds of the sector’s senior researchers were approaching retirement age, making recruitment and training of young scientists to the PhD level an urgent priority. The first phase of WAAPP (2012–2016) funded PhD- and MSc-level training for 14 and 17 scientists, respectively. Nonetheless, much more training and recruitment is needed to tackle the imminent agricultural research capacity losses that Nigeria’s government sector is facing.

Outdated infrastructure

With low levels of capital investment, Nigeria’s agricultural research infrastructure remains underequipped, understandably having negative impacts on the quality and quantitity of research outputs. Investment in the rehabilitation of research centers—other than those being rehabilitated under WAAPP—is crucial to the performance of effective research, to retaining and motivating researchers, and to the development of high-quality outputs. Therefore, funding for investments in research infrastructure and equipment needs to be sought urgently from the government and other sources.

ARCN’s ongoing reform process

Although ARCN is formally mandated to coordinate agricultural research in Nigeria, it does not have the power to allocate financial resources to institutes under its umbrella. To address this, the government is in the process of reforming ARCN along the lines of India’s ICAR and Brazil’s Embrapa. This is an important step in overcoming the financial and human resource constraints ARCN currently faces. It is intended that the legislation creating the new entity will encompass improved goverance structures, more effective budgeting processes, and a broader funding base.